<p> Education policymakers in Nigeria lack the knowledge on the views of Niger Delta youths, who rely on entrepreneurship education and its contents to fight poverty and unemployment in their area. This study&rsquo;s purpose was to gain deeper understanding of the views of Niger Delta youths on entrepreneurship education, its contents, and its role in fighting their area&rsquo;s high rate of poverty and unemployment. This study was framed and guided by three key concepts that focus on the challenges of poor communities: youth unemployment in sub-Saharan Africa, entrepreneurship education, and youth entrepreneurship. To address this issue properly, a qualitative multiple-case study was designed. Data were collected from multiple sources: semi structured interviews, archival data from government labor reports , and the researcher&rsquo;s field notes.Data analysis was completed through thematic and cross-case synthesis analysis. . The findings showed that the Niger Delta is less privileged in financial availability, deepened in economic recessions under unemployment, poverty, inflation, hunger and starvations, with less chance of obtaining education, without qualification for employable white-collar jobs, neglected by the government of Nigeria, irrespective that Niger Delta region is the city of petroleum production that gives approximately 95% of Nigerian national revenue annually. With the adoption of entrepreneurship education in their school system and through training and skill acquisition, the Niger Delta would contribute to poverty alleviation, increased business career ownership, and meet the daily economic demands of their families, and be able to have a voice in social change. Social change can potentially be achieved through economic restoration and the enhancement of youths&rsquo; education and employment status, which in turn would help decrease the rate of poverty.</p><p>

<p> There is convincing evidence that effective leadership is a major contributing factor to small business growth and success. However, attention to leadership focused on founding CEOs abounds at the expense of exploring the distribution of leadership across an organization. This study explored the hybridity of focused and distributed leadership enactment in a fast-growing small business situated in South Africa. The first objective was to form a holistic view of how the members of the organization lead, incorporating leadership focused on key individual leaders and that which is shared and distributed amongst and between others. The second objective was to contextualize leadership hybridity to the South African culture and demands of fast business growth. The third objective was to explore how leaders transform as they navigate the terrains of focused and distributed leadership. The overarching goal was to propose a holistic leadership hybridity framework that appreciates these complexities. A qualitative single case study research design guided the study. The case study database was created from in-depth interviews with leaders and followers, focus group interviews, participant observations of organizational activities, and the review of two documents. Themes emerged to suggest that there is harmonious leadership hybridity that occurs through both the behaviors of critical individual leaders at the top (notably, the CEO) and those emerging from outside of formal structures through distributed leadership across multiple leadership actors and factors. The South African culture of ubuntu seems to support post-heroic leadership but does not exclude acknowledging that growing a business involves a collection of heroic acts. And lastly, leaders and followers who performed leadership within hybridity (i.e., those that can fluidly move between being a leader or a follower) benefited from enhanced self-regulation, amongst other psychosocial benefits. The insight gained from this study could inform leadership development initiatives that are more effective in growing leaders and small businesses in Southern Africa.</p><p>

<p> North West Nigeria has the lowest vaccination rate of the geopolitical regions of the country. The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to examine associations between the parents&rsquo;/caregivers&rsquo; biological, cultural, and socioeconomic factors and the completion or noncompletion of routine immunization schedules. Andersen&rsquo;s behavioral model provided the framework for the study. Data were obtained from the 2013 National Demographic Health Survey. Descriptive statistics were calculated for all variables. Chi-square tests were used for categorical predictor variables, simple logistic regression models were used for the age variable, and multiple linear regression models were used for the biological, cultural, and socioeconomic variables to assess the relative importance of factors within each category. Findings indicated a statistically significant association between 4 factors (education, wealth index, religious affiliation, and cost of healthcare) and completion of immunization schedules. Findings may be used to improve the likelihood of immunization of children in North West Nigeria and reduce the levels of childhood morbidity and mortality. Policy makers and immunization programmers can strengthen social services such as women&rsquo;s education, income generation, especially in the agricultural sector and other culturally sensitive interventions with community collaboration to bring the required social change.</p><p>

In 1966 Nigeria joined the extended list of nations where the military through the coup d'etat substituted themselves and their policies in place of civilian regimes. This thesis deals with the problem of the coup d'etat in that nation with a specific focus on the coups of 1966 and 1983. The major emphasis centers on factors that are significant in the occurrence of the coup d'etat. Nigeria presents an interesting case study because at the time of independence it was not expected to be plagued by the specter of unstable civil-military relations that was rampant in other parts of Africa and Latin America. This study thus, set out to analyze societal conditions to attain valid reasons why the constitutional government had been so easily displaced by the military. This study hypothesizes that the failure of political elites to acquire confidence and support for societal institutions significantly enhanced the atmosphere that was conducive to the coup d'etat. This approach pays specific attention to societal conditions such as, weak institutions and elite inefficiency to make its case. This study describes the failure of the elites to rally mass support for societal institutions as the critical variable in the occurrence of the coup d’état. It is my genuine hope that this study will contribute to the debate on the coup d’état by adding the concept of internal dynamics to the institutional theories. In this regard, this study hopes to determine to what extent internal societal conditions are relevant in the occurrence of the coup d’état.

The thesis contributed to the growing body of knowledge and discourse on the African presence in Mexico. Long underresearched, Afromexican studies today command the attention of some of Mexico's foremost historians and anthropologists. This thesis focused on some of their ideas and gave a general overview of the history of people of African descent in Mexico, particularly in the state of Veracruz, the port of entry for most of New Spain's African slaves. Drawing on the work of these Afromexicanista scholars, this thesis demonstrated how their ideas intersect, and sometimes differ with, traditional scholarship in this neglected area. The elusive question of defining blackness within the national discourse of mestizaje formed part of the discussion. Mestizaje traditionally refers to the racial mixture of Europeans and indigenous Americans. Recent efforts seek to broaden the concept of mestizaje to include the descendants of Africans. Finally, this thesis reported on ethnographic fieldwork conducted in two Afromexican towns in Veracruz, Yanga and El Coyolillo, which have widely divergent attitudes toward the concept of blackness.

<p> Altruism is an imperative for nursing practice and education, but no research has explored its meaning using a historical method. This study aimed to explicate the meaning of altruism through the study of four Southern Baptist nurse missionaries. Ruth Kersey, Amanda Tinkle, Hazel Moon, and Helen Masters served in Nigeria between 1920 and 1981. Their correspondence archives were used as primary sources of data and analyzed for examples of altruism. These women founded orphanages and leprosy treatment programs, and managed clinics and hospitals run by the Southern Baptist Church in Nigeria. Additional interconnected variables of race, gender, and religion were also found to influence their work. The findings of this study supported altruism as a sacrificial behavior motivated by benefiting others. Nursing&rsquo;s presence in global health, its expansion in leadership, and its future identity are supported by the study of these four nurses. Further research into the work of nurse missionaries in nursing&rsquo;s past is recommended to increase the understanding of missionary work and altruism.</p><p>

<p> Acculturation for Ethiopians in America systemically require adaptation to the dominant culture. Prior research findings illustrate that acculturation mechanically progress towards assimilation, an absorption of a foreign culture&rsquo;s psychological, sociological, and cultural characteristics. In this sense, this case study explores the impact of assimilation and acculturation on Ethiopian women academic achievement, self-identity development and perception of beauty in America. American systems promote the dominant structure ideologies through oppressive symbols, themes, and cultural dissonance of Blacks. However, the construct of race contributes to the discourse that affect Ethiopians in America by categorizing the group with Blacks based on skin color. Therefore, cultural exclusion legitimizes Ethiopians navigation of American structural practices based on issues of colorism that lends to a silencing of Ethiopian voices. Critical-race-feminism provides the framework and lens to critically analyze the underlying issue of race, and impact of assimilation and acculturation. Critical pedagogy supports the synthesis of Ethiopian women academic achievement. Congruently, case study interviews provide qualitative data to evaluate the life experiences of Ethiopian women, and ascertain information to investigate participants&rsquo; academic and social experiences navigating American culture. The following six themes emerged from the narrative data: (1) Family Centered Social Structure, (2) Maintaining Ethiopian Traditions/Customs in America Matters, (3) Struggle of Independence as a Woman vs. Family-Interdependence as a Woman, (4) Identifying as Ethiopian and Black vs. African-American, (5) School Impacts Culture When Isolated, and (6) Afrocentrism Standard of Beauty. Findings suggest Ethiopians in America have formulated structural supports inter-ethnically to safeguard culture, Ethiopians, and Afrocentric views. Findings further illustrate that Ethiopian culture promotes strong identity development, lending to increased academic achievement and the application of Afrocentricism towards constructs of beauty. The study concludes with recommendations for policy makers, educators, and community activist for future support and research on Ethiopians in America.</p><p>

<p> Transition planning is not an alternative for students with disabilities, but rather a fundamental aspect of their lives upon which educational programs and activities are developed to achieve successful postsecondary outcomes. Unlike developed countries such as the United States, Botswana does not have a transition mandate that guides the preparation of individuals with disabilities for adulthood. In this study, the researcher utilized the United States&rsquo; transition framework, with modifications, to suit the cultural context of Botswana in an exploration of perceptions of secondary and vocational school teachers on effective transition programs for students with disabilities. The study especially focused on students with visual impairments, in a sampling of Botswana&rsquo;s secondary and vocational schools. It examined differences in the beliefs, knowledge, and views of general education teachers, special education teachers, guidance and counseling teachers, and vocational teachers regarding supporting students with disabilities to achieve successful post-school outcomes, as well as participants&rsquo; perceptions about the importance of the academic and functional curriculum in the transition planning process. Teachers expressed diverse views, beliefs, and knowledge levels concerning transition planning practices and principles. Recommendations for practice and future research are discussed.</p><p>

This thesis argues that the ideology of Naam (principle of power) is an essential and overlooked component in explaining both the logic of state formation, as well as the institutional continuities evident within the Mossi-Mamprusi-Dagomba states system. With reference to Igor Kopytoff’s Internal African Frontier Thesis, it understands this logic as a single, continuous historical process whereby states were formed and dismantled, broken in autonomous entities and (re)created as clones of a constitutive Naam ‘model’. This model also was negatively responsible for the genesis of acephalous non-state formations, composed of frontier men and women who escaped the stifling grip of the state. Specifically, the thesis argues that the ideology of Naam was the overarching principle that not only informed the expansion of the Mossi-Mamprusi-Dagombasystem, but also enabled the construction of a Mossi identity. Naam was ‘proposed’ in some places, and ‘imposed’ in others, through rituals, family-like associations, and the integration of indigenous groups into the sphere of political rule. Naam ideology was confronted with a fundamental contradiction: the Mossi ruled (over) people but had no control over the territorial basis of their rule. This contradiction was partly resolved through the extension of the discourse of power to the realm of Tenga (the sphere of rituals and earth-custody), by uniting the Mossi divinity (Wende) to the earth divinity (Tenga) and by tapping into the possibilities of a common belief, in order to buttress state legitimacy but also to articulate ‘Mossi’ culture on the basis of a shared idiom that transcended the dichotomy Naam/Tenga. This contradiction cannot be explained with reference to the materiality of conquest alone, as most accounts of state formation, within and beyond Africa, have suggested. Yet the process was informed throughout by violence of a different kind. The deployment of Naam in the realm of rituals served to mediate the gap between power and legitimacy; but at the same time, state power as discourse and representation concealed the ontological violence inherent in the Mossi state. It also concealed the limits of discourse in making valid statements on historical experience. In the Mossi case, pânga (a form of travesty/violent version of Naam), intervenes in the disarticulation of power from kinship by isolating the Naaba (king) from all forms of loyalties. An extended analysis of the consolidation of the Mossi state in the eighteenth century demonstrates how centralisation centred on the twin conditions of the necessary separation between kinship and kingship, and the integration of the stranger-kin as mediating agent at the junction of this divorce. The thesis will contribute to a better understanding of the role of ideology in state formation and society-making in the Voltaic region and West Africa more generally.

<p> Pioneers of Australia is a vibrant and dynamic mission organisation, entrusted with the privilege of sending mature disciples to share the good news of Jesus Christ among the nations. The purpose of this dissertation is to enable Pioneers of Australia applicants and appointees to proactively grow in the specific area of prayer, ensuring that prayer lies at the very core of their ongoing formation for global mission. </p><p> This research investigates two major sources of prayer. Firstly, prayer as seen in the life of Jesus and the early church in Acts &ndash; voices from Scripture. And secondly, prayer as found in the lives of Pioneers-Africa, another sending entity within Pioneers &ndash; voices from Africa. The findings are then applied to the context of Pioneers of Australia. </p><p> The research utilizes is a combination of literature survey of Scripture (voices from Scripture) and ethnographic methodology (voices from Africa). The latter includes the mutually enhancing methods of Narrative Interview and Participant Observation. After identifying the pofints of intersect between the material, I then establish Biblically-based principles of prayer for application to Pioneers of Australia. I have limited this to five initial principles, which are then creatively expanded through a booklet entitled <i>Shaped by Prayer,</i> found in Appendix E. All of this is to facilitate a greater understanding of and commitment to the role of prayer as a core aspect of the life and ministry of our cross-cultural global mission workers, leading to greater Kingdom impact.</p><p>